The Slytherin Shadow Girl
by nightwhisperofshadows
Summary: Fem!Harry.Manipulative!Dumbledore.Ok-ish!Voldemort/DeathEaters. She left the wizarding world when she was eleven. Now she's about to get an unexpected re-introducing, with some not-nice additions. True summary inside. Will have slash later on.
1. Meeting

The Slytherin Shadow Girl

Summary: Esmerelda found out Dumbledore was using her a few weeks after arriving at Hogwarts for her first year, and ran away. She's now seventeen and living a nice life away from magic, but a surprise visit from Voldemort forces her to question whether she is truly happy.

Yep, another story for the Harry Potter category. I am working on the second chapter to Gentle Evergreen, but I have writer's block and a lot of school work, so it might be a white. This was just something to break the monotony.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

_Thoughts_

_**Parseltongue**_

* * *

Esmerelda breathed a deep lungful of air and smiled. White City was really beautiful at night. The lights from the tall buildings contrasting with the deep, dark blue sky that was filled with little white lights of its own was a breath-taking sight and one that Esmerelda never failed to appreciate.

It had been many years since she had come into contact with the magical world.

When she got her letter to Hogwarts, she was thrilled that she would be escaping the Dursley's. But it turned out that Hogwarts may not have been any better. No more than a few weeks after Hogwarts began; she had gone to Dumbledore's office, which she found the location of from asking Hagrid, wanting a chat with the man that had helped her so much. What she didn't expect was to open the door a crack and see Dumbledore discussing with a nasty-looking man with a limp that Esmerelda's power had been successfully blocked and trusted him completely, that she would be the perfect weapon to defeat Voldemort when the time came.

Needless to say, she had been in a shock. She left immediately and went straight to her dormitory, lying in her bed until she had fully understood what had been said and finished crying. The only thing in her mind afterwards was that she had to leave soon, extremely soon. It had been hard, trying to pretend everything was normal after what she had heard, it was almost impossible to smile for her friends during dinner.

She had packed when her dorm mates had fallen asleep and snuck out of the tower. She didn't bother writing a note, it wasn't worth it. She couldn't say why she left or where she was going, so what was the point of wasting paper for a lost cause. If there was one thing she had learnt from the Dursley's, other than how to cook, was to make use of every-little-thing you had. Also, listen to everything you're told. If she didn't, she wouldn't have heard Hermione say that you could check your magical core for extra abilities by going into a deep meditation.

Present day, Esmerelda smirked. If it hadn't been for that piece of advice, she might never have escaped from Hogwarts. That night, when she had finished packing her meagre belongings, she had performed the meditation rite that Hermione had talked about. It had been an odd feeling. She had closed her eyes and was looking at blackness one minute and then was staring at a large, golden puddle that had multiple strands of colours in it.

She had been pleasantly surprised to find out that magic had its own embodied voice and it had been happy to answer Esmerelda's questions. The silver/green strand, she had found was her abilities with being a parseltongue, black had been a horcrux that Voldemort had accidently placed in her (something she felt sick about and needed a few moments to regain herself after being told), red had been her ability as a beast-speaker as well as several possible animagi that was attached to it, and the final had been a purple colour that indicated shadow magic. Shadow magic had meant that she literally controlled all darkness, able to use it to heal, attack and transport, and it had been the technique that got her away from Hogwarts. One thing she found disturbing was that there were large parts of her puddle of magic that were cut off from the rest by a white shield. When she questioned, the magic replied that it had been bound and blocked off by Dumbledore and there wasn't anything either of them could do about. It had hurt her, but she left it alone and returned to reality.

With knowledge of how to escape, she had picked up her trunk, hoisted it onto her shoulders, and snuck out the front doors of Hogwarts. It was a risk, trying to get outside the gates of Hogwarts before using her powers to take her elsewhere, but she was glad she had done so. On the way out, she had spotted Dumbledore and the nasty man again, but with an odd device. The old coot had to the other man that it was an invisibility cloak, which had belonged to her father. She had stood, filled with rage at them for handling something that obviously held memories of her father, memories she would kill to have, when they had been called into Hagrid's hut when the half-giant had spotted them. Attempting to keep with appearances, they had left the cloak and gone with him. In a burst of stupidity, she had rushed forward, stolen the cloak, and placed it into her trunk before sprinting to the gates.

She was lucky.

No sooner than she had reached the gates and allowed the darkness to swallow her and take her somewhere far away, then she had heard and outraged shout coming from the grounds of the school.

The darkness had deposited her at Wormwood Park, a large gathering place inside of White City. In a fit of pure-luck, she had run into a run-away wolf from the zoo inside the park. Using her beast-speaker ability, she had quickly calmed down the savage wolf, impressing the workers of the zoo. All were muggles, and none had known she had actually talked to the wolf, they thought she had used other methods of communication and calmed it down, something none of the handlers had been able to do. A couple of visits to other problem animals, all of which had turned out well for Esmerelda and the director was begging her to work there.

A quick assurance that they didn't care that she was only eleven and didn't have a birth certificate, as well as signing a couple forms (that she had checked quite thoroughly) that the director was to be her guardian until she was fifteen, at which she would be empicated, and they were discussing living arrangements, time schedules and pay. In his words, "We'd be fools to let you go". Esmerelda never regretted the decision.

Even now, more than six years after she had first arrived, she still worked at the zoo, and loved every second of it. She was free and happy. She worked with all the animals at the zoo, making many friends, including the wolf she had met on her first day; had enough pay to live comfortably in a small, but cosy, apartment not too far away; she had night shifts alone, allowing her full use of both her special abilities; and was even trusted to look after newborns at home since she had rescued and nursed a Belgium Shepherd puppy that had now grown into her best friend.

A sharp nudge to her leg jolted Esmerelda out of her thoughts of days long gone, and she looked down to see a bluish-gray she-wolf standing beside her with a controlled, but concerned, look.

"You were lost in your thoughts, young pup." The wolf, Zelkra, said. One of the perks of being a beast-speaker was the ability to allow animals to speak English. "Thoughts are a dangerous place to be lost."

"She's right." Now the Belgium shepherd, Dakria, joined the conversation. "Are you alright?" Esmerelda couldn't help but smile at her two closest friends.

"I'm fine. Just thinking of the past."

"Don't dwell on such things. It's better to forget things like that." Dakria said, shaking her head as if physically dispelling the thoughts of her friend's bad past. "Come on, we only have one more round for tonight." She then turned to the elder member of the canine family. "You will be joining us, won't you Zelkra?"

"I should be getting back to my pack..." She trailed off; trying to decide what was the best course of action. As much as she cared for the zoo as a whole, her pack came first. But that's always before Dakria pulls out the biggest weapon of persuasion in her arsenal. A perfect, sad puppy look.

"Please." The word was drawn out and said in a child-like voice. Zelkra only could stand a minute looking at them before she caved in.

"Alright." It was sighed, and quickly turned to yelps of protest as Dakria, laughing happily, shoved her down the pathway. Esmerelda couldn't help but laugh. Their antics never failed to amuse her. Jogging, she took after them and quickly caught up. She smiled down at her two friends before starting to recite the proper procedures, not that they usually followed them.

"Alright, first we have to check-"She was cut off by a large explosion-like sound, one that was too close for anyone to be comfortable.

"What was that?" Dakria couldn't help but cry.

"It came from near the main gate!" Zelkra shouted before taking off in the direction of the sound, ready to attack any threat to the home of so many creatures that she valued. Dakria soon followed and Esmerelda went as well. She just hoped that it wasn't going to ruin everything she had worked for.

* * *

It had started off as a normal raid.

Contrary to popular belief, Voldemort and his Death Eaters didn't attack muggleborns or wizards. Only Muggles. Reasoning behind it was muggles weren't accepting of anything unusual and wouldn't hesitate to attack wizards if they found out about them. Fresh blood from muggleborns, however, strengthened magic in the next generation, and so they were important to make sure that magic didn't die out. Any attacks on wizards had been coordinated by the meddling old coot and the wizarding world refused to take off its rose-coloured glass and see the abuse muggleborns went through and the true Albus Dumbledore.

And it pissed him off to no end.

The raid had been simple; apparate to White City, take out as many muggles as possible and disapparate when the aurors arrived. White City was an ideal location for a raid because it was far from London and the aurors would take a while to get there, longer than it would be if the raid was staged in London. But it had quickly gone horribly wrong.

Aurors had turned up far earlier than expected and proceeded taking out many of the present Death Eaters. Seeing they were grossly outnumbered, Voldemort had ordered the closest Death Eater to him to cast the Dark Mark. The Dark Mark, when used in the middle of a fight, signified for the Death Eaters to retreat. The order completed, Death Eaters disapparated away before aurors could arrest them. But even that had eventually been countered.

It had only been him, Lucius Malfoy and Fenrir Greyback when an auror had cast an anti-apparation ward. Nothing left, the three fled. Which led to his current predicament.

In London, they would have been able to navigate their way through the streets easily; here, they were completely lost and, as much as he hated to admit it, were in deep trouble. The only advantage they had was that the aurors also weren't familiar with the city. Greyback was easily ahead of them, his werewolf status giving him more speed, agility and stamina than the other two. A quick turn led them to a park; several of its trees were quickly cut down to make roadblocks to hinder the aurors.

"Up there!" He looked up at Fenrir's shout to see a large set of iron gates. The sign above them said zoo. Not thinking twice, they went through the gates, which Lucius then locked with a complex locking spell, which would take the aurors several minutes to undo. Unable to tell where they were, they kept running from the gate till they felt they were a reasonable distance from their pursuers. With luck, they'd decide that unlocking the gate would be a waste of time and leave.

"I think they're staying behind." Fenrir commented. "I can't smell them coming."

"That's something, at least." Lucius panted from over by a lamp pole, which he was leaning on whilst trying to regain his breath.

"Wha-"The unfamiliar voice caused all three heads to turn to its direction. The one responsible for the cry was a teenage girl, maybe just turned seventeen, with black hair and bright green eyes. Though the feature about her that caught Voldemort's attention, was the lightning bolt scar on her forehead.

"Potter!" The hate and loathing in his voice would be enough to make anyone flinch. The hatred for one of Dumbledore's major fighters overruled any surprise he had from seeing the girl in such a place. The one word he spoke had two very different effects on the other wizards. Lucius had tensed and was gripping his wand so tightly his knuckles had turned white. On the other hand, Fenrir had an almost insane grin on his face and was clenching and un-clenching the hand which held his wand. As for how he had a wand at all, let's just say that having Lucius so high up in the ministry had its uses. The girl had tensed upon his voice, though he could see fear and apprehension in her eyes, and he was certain that Fenrir had already smelt the emotions.

"So the light has hid their favourite little weapon here." He couldn't help the insane grin that graced his face as he raised his wand. "Pertificus Totalus!" However, the grin faded as the girl's hands became wrapped in a black light as a similar, but larger amount of black light formed a shield around her, causing the jinx to bounce off and tear up some of the pathway. _So she has rare magic. Not a problem._

"You brat!" Lucius raise his wand as well, before firing his own spell. "Incendio!" But, once more, the black energy protected the girl as it wrapped itself around the spell like a hand and extinguished it. Fenrir seemed to have forgotten that he had a wand at all as he charged towards Potter in an attempt to use his werewolf strength to bring her down, but was also brushed off as a large wall of power slammed the werewolf into the ground. The only upside to this was that it was taking a large toll on the girl, she was shaking and paling quickly. Voldemort raised his wand so it was level with her head.

"Crucio!" The red jet of light was thrown towards her as she sent a black jet of light to counter it. For a moment, the two magic's pushed each other, trying to make the other give way, before the girl threw the black to the side, throwing both jets into the pavement and kicking up a large dust cloud.

"You're not doing to cope with this much longer." Fenrir taunted from where he had picked himself up off the pavement. His words where true, the girl was panting heavily and it was obvious the small amounts of magic had taken a lot out of her.

"You know what?" She panted out, glaring at the three of them. "I've decided I can't be stuffed to fight you." With that, she turned on her heel and walked back the direction she came, as three wizards' jaws unhinged as they stared after her.

* * *

So, what'd you think? Good? Bad? Outstanding? Troll? Tell me in a review.

NightWhisper.


	2. Understanding

The Slytherin Shadow Girl

Summary: Esmerelda found out Dumbledore was using her a few weeks after arriving at Hogwarts for her first year, and ran away. She's now seventeen and living a nice life away from magic, but a surprise visit from Voldemort forces her to question whether she is truly happy.

WOW! I never expected such a response in such a short time. Thankyou everyone. Due to the fact were some people who were confused about some of the things in chapter 1, I've put explanations in this author's note to what they said wasn't clear.

The problems were with the geography as White City is based off a real city in England, how Esmerelda could work at a zoo as a child, how she could be considered an adult at seventeen and whether or not Voldemort knew she had run away from the magical world. And the answers follow.

With the geography, I don't live in England and I've never visited England. So, I looked at a map of London city and its surrounding area. I saw White City Estate and Wormwood Scrubs Park were close to each other and not too far away from London City. I couldn't tell where any zoos were for my story to be set in, so I tweaked the geography a slight bit, making the zoo inside Wormwood Park and the park inside White City. So, essentially, this is a fictional place that I invented, with the help of a map, to suit my purposes for this story.

In the first chapter, I stated that the director of the zoo adopted her, but I'll be mentioning in the second chapter, they didn't have an emotional bond; it was just to make sure Esmerelda could stay and work at the zoo. At first, she would have had adult supervision and lived as a guest at the director's home. When she was fifteen, she got more freedom, such as doing shifts and jobs on her own, and when she turned seventeen, she was legally an adult, so she moved into her own apartment and has the same responsibilities as any other adult at the zoo.

As for the connection to the magical world, no, no one knows that she's run away except for Dumbledore and those who agree about Esmerelda being treated as a weapon. Everyone else thinks she's off for special training, as that's what Dumbledore told them. So, Voldemort thinks that Esmerelda has been trained into this elite weapon to fight for Dumbledore. This one will also be mentioned in the second chapter.

As for the age, Esmerelda has no birth certificate, so they don't know her actual age. She knows she's seventeen, but they're guessing between 17-19.

Thankyou everyone for such a response and hope you enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

_Thoughts_

_**Parseltongue**_

* * *

The three wizards stared at the girl before Lucius managed to snap out of a shock-induced haze and started to follow her.

"Wait, you can't just-"But he was quickly cut of as a blue-gray she-wolf with a bulky build and white, knife-like teeth whirled around a corner in front of the girl, snarling. Lucius quickly turned tail and fled back to the other wizards as the wolf barrelled over the small girl and, causing surprise to the wizards, began scolding the girl, in English.

"Don't you ever do that again! Don't you ever restrain me with that black stuff ever again! If I want to fight, that's my choice!" The wolf was snarling in the girl's face, though somehow she wasn't that intimidated. Maybe nervous and sufficiently scolded, but not scared.

"Zelkra's right." Now, another canine came up to them. This one was a deep, midnight black with a pointed face and a bushy tail. "If we want to fight for you, that's our choice." Voldemort was extremely confused and could tell his companions were in the same predicament as he was.

"Excuse me, my dear lady?" There was a reason Lucius was a popular aristocrat. His voice had taken on a flattering tone as he went up to the girl and her friends. "Can you please explain to use what you're doing out here? Maybe why you're not with the wizarding community?" The two canines had stepped between the girl and Lucius, glaring up at him, as if daring him to attack the girl under their watch. The girl stared at him with narrowed eyes, scrutinizing him under an intense gaze, before picking herself up and walking down the pathway, the canines following her. She stopped a little down the path before looking back at them.

"Well," She called out. "Are you coming?" With that she continued walking, the three wizards soon following after her.

* * *

Esmerelda walked through the park, hearing the wizards following footsteps behind her. The comforting fur on either side of her calmed her nerves. She had only heard a little of Voldemort, but she didn't have all the facts, what was lies and what was truth, and the other two she had never heard of at all. She just hoped she was making the right choice. She led them back to the staff building in the zoo and quickly unlocked the door with a key from her pocket.

"May as well come in." She said, holding the door open for them, only for the blonde aristocrat to grab the door from her and gesture for her to go inside before him. She blushed a little before doing as told and heading over to the kitchenette of the staff room.

"Tea?' She called over her shoulder, to the nod of the aristocrat and Voldemort, but to the shake of the wolf-like man. She quickly set about finding what she needed as her two canine companions settled themselves on the rug in the middle of the floor. She had just started boiling the water when one of the wizards cleared their throat to get her attention.

"So," She nodded to show she was listening, but didn't turn around. "What is the saviour of the wizarding world doing here?" She settled the tea bag in the water.

"You're going to have to say more than that. I don't know what you're talking about." The voice she recognised as Voldemort's answered her's.

"Dumbledore has told the media that he's sent you to a secret location for special training." There was a stunned silence from Esmerelda for a few moments, her back rim-rod straight, before the heavy silence was broken by large, loud laughs from the girl. She doubled over, clutching her stomach, and her legs gave out quickly. Her fall to the ground turned her around slightly and the three wizards could see the tears of laughter rolling down her face. She was soon wheezing and wiping away her tears, trying to get her merriment under control.

"I-I'm sor-sorry bu-but..." She dissolved into giggles once more and the three men looked on bemused. Finally, she got control over herself and weakly made her way over a chair and sat down. She wiped the tears from her yes and turned to Voldemort, a large smile still on her face.

"He really told everyone that?" She said quietly. He only nodded as she shook her head in amusement. "Well, it could have been worse." That seemed to make something click in the blonde's mind as he quickly sat up straight.

"So he was lying about your location?" Esmerelda nodded. "Ever since the first month of my first year. I ran off. I overheard how Dumbledore," She spat out the name like it was dirt in her mouth. "Had planned for me to be his weapon and I left after that. Haven't seen him since." The blonde nodded, whilst Voldemort raised an eyebrow at her. She looked at the blonde, he looked familiar from somewhere, before addressing him.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know your names." She gestured to him and the wolf-man. They both turned to Voldemort for permission, confirming that they were both worked for him. Voldemort gave a short nod and the other two turned back to her.

"I'm Lucius Malfoy," 'Alright, so little Malfoy's father' she thought. "And this is Fenrir Greyback." The other man gave a wave to her, which she returned, smiling.

"You're a werewolf." Esmerelda jumped, having forgotten that Zelkra and Dakria were there for a little bit. Then what Zelkra had said registered in her mind. Obviously, it did in the others as well because Lucius got up and wandered back over to where the tea was boiling and Voldemort stiffened. Fenrir himself narrowed his eyes and the indifferent wolf. Meanwhile, Dakria got up and wander from the middle of the room where Zelkra was lying and over to where Voldemort was seated, slightly away from where the werewolf was glaring. Esmerelda herself quickly got up and went with Lucius over to the kitchenette. She didn't know what was going to happen, but she did know she didn't want to be stuck in the middle of it.

"Where's your alpha, wolf?" Fenrir growled out, trying to intimidate the she-wolf with his status. _Oh no._ Esmerelda thought. The fact Zelkra was both an alpha and a female often caused problems, and it looked like it would here too.

"_I_ am the alpha of my pack." Zelkra replied, staring Fenrir straight in the eye and standing up, raising her hackles. Fenrir returned the gesture and also bared his teeth. Lucius stared at her, silently begging her to stop them with his eyes. Esmerelda quickly shook her head, not wanting to get involved. When Zelkra had her status as alpha insulted, nothing was going to make her back down.

"Females can't be alphas. They can't protect their pack." Fenrir stuck his nose, or should she call it snout, up in a pompous way. Zelkra growled and stalked towards the cocky werewolf.

"Want to test that?" She taunted, toning her words just right to make it a challenge that Fenrir couldn't reject without injuring his pride. He gave a toothy grin, Esmerelda was immediately reminded of the big bad wolf in little red riding hood, and stood up.

"Gladly." Fenrir then turned into a large, male wolf, obviously his werewolf form. The wolf was a deep russet brown colour with some gray patches, his eyes were a bright amber colour and his pupils looked like the thinnest, blackest twigs someone could find. He was a fair amount larger than Zelkra, but Esmerelda knew that Zelkra was also going to be faster and more nimble. Size was worthless if it couldn't hit its target. The two wolves sized each other up when Esmerelda remembered a warning from before and her eyes flew wide open from the previously half-asleep state they had been in before.

"Zelkra! No fighting insi- and you don't give a rat's ass, do you?" Esmerelda finished, sighing. She'd decided half-way through that it was pointless. They were going to fight now, and going to fight here. Zelkra gave a toothy grin of her own and replied without looking away from the rival alpha.

"Nope." With that, the two wolves leapt for each other and began to, no better world for it, savage each other. Both trying to use their advantage, whether it be size or speed, to gain the upper hand. Esmerelda stopped watching them after seeing Zelkra bite the other alpha's tail and shake it like a chew toy. She turned to Lucius, who turned to her once he noticed she was staring at him, and gave a shrug, before turning back to the tea and gathering two cups from a cabinet, Lucius joining her and turning his back on the two fighting wolves after a moment's hesitation. Esmerelda, however, turned quickly back to the fight when she heard a large crash. When she looked, she saw Fenrir slumped against a wall and Zelkra on her back in the middle of the room. It seemed that Zelkra had used what she called 'the bunny kick'. When Zelkra was trapped under a larger body, she put all her strength into her hind legs and kicked them off. It often won her fights and challenges and it seemed to have done the same here. With a leap, Zelkra had the larger wolf pinned beneath her, throat bared.

"Yield?" She growled into his ear, forcing her entire body weight onto his chest, causing him to gasp for breath. He struggled and squirmed for a few moments before his body went limp.

"Yield." The word was soft, almost unable to be heard, but it was there. Zelkra had won. With that, she climbed off him and wandered back over to her spot, lying down as if nothing had ever disturbed her. Fenrir, on the other hand, transformed back into a man and sat up slowly, occasionally cringing from pain. Esmerelda could see the slashes and bite marks on him and gave a mournful sigh before moving to the back of the staff room.

"Dammit." She whispered under her breath as she reached the hallway which would take her to the bathroom. "You," She addressed the werewolf, who looked at her, snapping out of his 'woe is me' mood. "Sit over there," She indicated with her head to a lone couch before turning back to the hallway. "And take your shirt off. I'm going to see what I have in the way of medical supplies." She could feel the three men staring at the back of her head like she was crazy.

"Hell no!" Esmerelda clenched her teeth at the reply and gave another sigh, before turning around to the werewolf, her lack of patience getting to her.

"You are either going to get over there and take it off yourself or I'm going to try and magic it off! And, considering I have little to no magical training, we can all guess how well _that_ is going to work!" Lucius seemed to flinch at the glare that accompanied her rant and Voldemort raised a hairless eyebrow at her. Meanwhile, Fenrir seemed to jolt back from her gaze and soon got up and made his way over to the couch. Esmerelda gave a satisfied nod and went down the hallway and into the bathroom. The vanity in it had one of those mirrors that you could open up like a door and hold objects in it. Opening it, she took out the first aid kit and closed the mirror/door. She was just turning to go back to the main room when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye.

Turning, she saw her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes had become dark, like chipped emeralds, and they had become larger on her face. Her pupils were slitted and cat-like and they looked almost- _Feral. _Esmerelda leaned closer, getting a better look at them. They looked like a wild animals'. _So that's what freaked them out. _Esmerelda smiled, her eyes going back to normal and headed back down the hallway.

She went over to the couch and sat down on it, next to Fenrir. He had done as she asked, but didn't seem to be happy about. Esmerelda just hummed and opened up the kit.

"That's muggle!" The shout caused Esmerelda to sigh once more before looking up at the owner of the shout, Lucius. All three wizards were staring at the box in her hands and Esmerelda felt the last string holding her patience together snap.

"Well, I don't have any healing magic," Esmerelda said as calmly as she could, but it was coming out in a sarcastic tone. "And if none of you are trained healers, then this will have to do." She glared at them and Lucius and Fenrir turned away, not willing to answer her. Voldemort raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. She bit back the desire to stick her tongue out at him and his eyebrow and, instead, turned to Fenrir and started bandaging the injuries.

'You do have healing powers, Emma." Dakria had returned to her place on the rug and was watching her friend. The three wizards turned to the young woman, questioning looks on their faces and Esmerelda scowled.

'I've only ever used them on myself, and only for little things. I've never used them to heal someone else and never a werewolf. Speaking of which," She turned to Fenrir as she finished bandaging the last gash and packed up the kit. "I thought werewolves could only change during the full moon."

"That's only for those who don't accept the wolf part of them." Fenrir replied as he pulled his shirt back on. Esmerelda could see Lucius going over to the kitchenette and finishing the tea out of the corner of her eye. "Those who don't fear the wolf can change whenever they want. It doesn't pain them to transform into the wolf." Esmerelda nodded, understanding, and moved off to put the kit away, returning quickly and looking at the damage. The rug was ripped, the wall had a dent and the area between them had large pools of blood.

"Great," She mumbled. "What do I do about this?" Before she could blink, a blast of light from the other end of the room hit the wall and, when it cleared, the wall was fixed. She looked to the source of the light and found Voldemort, with that damned raised eyebrow of his, looking at her, his wand in his hand. A quick couple of other waves of it, and the blood disappeared and the rug repaired itself. "Well, that works." She mumbled, looking at the area that, if much cleaner, could be called sterile.

"It's just about time for us to go." Dakria's tail pointed to the clock on the wall, the large hand on the 9 and the little hand in between the 11 and the 12. Esmerelda nodded and began turning out the lights and made her way to the door.

"I'm off to my apartment. If you follow, then fine, if not...Meh." With her last, technically, sound she walked out the door, the door wide open and locked, with the two canines following her. There was a brief pause from the wizards, before they went out after her, Lucius barely remembering to close the door behind them.

* * *

When the wizards caught up to the girl, she was by the entrance of the zoo, seemingly having finished her rounds, and wolf, Zelkra was it?, was no longer with her. Voldemort observed the girl, despite her words earlier suggesting otherwise, it was obvious she was waiting for them. She was a paradox, nice at times, but angry and violent at others. Her words suggested she didn't care for them, but her actions said otherwise. She showed no signs of magical control but he could feel the unrestrained power radiating off her. It was, intriguing, to say the least.

She only gave a nod to show she had seen them, before walking off, the black dog at her heels. They quickly followed, her path leading them straight into the city. It was barren, not a trace of life, most of the time. All humans were in their homes asleep or at a party; no one was on the streets. The only creatures in the dark of the night were stray or feral animals, which was probably just as well. Fighting in a war left all three wizards paranoid when there was complete silence. It heightened their senses, left them feeling like they were being watched by a hundred eyes in the shadows. Fenrir almost hexed a stray cat by accident when it knocked over a trash can. The slightest noise made all three jump and draw their wands.

However, the girl seemed to be right at home on the abandoned streets. She walked ahead of them, confident in her surroundings; a confident swagger in her steps gave the impression that she was the queen of the night. She led them through the streets and alleyways with confidence, never looking back, to a section in the city with large buildings, most of the colours were a silver or cream colour, but a few had red and other bright colours that shone in the dark. She led them to one of the cream buildings, the balconies standing out and giving off the feel of an apartment block.

She entered the door at the base and began to walk up the stairs. Three flights up and she turned away from the stairs and started walking along the large balcony/walkway along the front of the building. When the wizards reached her, she had stopped in front of one of the dark cream doors. The number on it said 315. She pulled another key out of her pocket and unlocked the door, her dog entering first, followed by the girl and the wizards entered last, Voldemort making sure to close the door behind him. The main colour theme of the rooms seemed to be cream and various shades of blue. They couldn't see Esmerelda, but they heard her voice from the hall.

"I don't have anything for you, but this is where I live and can be found most of the time." There was a silent pause. Lucius was on one of the two couches and Fenrir was on the ground, talking with the black dog. "I don't often get visitors. Makes a nice change." Then the hallway was silent. He guessed she had gone to bed. He gestured for Lucius to come to him.

"She isn't that bad." Lucius started, looking towards where the girl had been. "Definitely nothing like how I thought she would be." He nodded agreeing with his Death Eater.

"She's interesting." Voldemort replied, casting another glance at the hallway. "She could be useful, once she's been trained." He looked towards were Fenrir was talking with the black dog. So far, the werewolf was asking the dog about why she called the girl Emma. Seemed it was a shortened from of Esmerelda. Voldemort broke up the discussion by snapping his fingers, gesturing to Fenrir when he got the werewolf's attention to wrap it up. With that, they walked back out the apartment door and stood on the balcony. Lucius then turned to his leader.

"So, my lord," Voldemort nodded to show he was listening. "We're coming back?" Voldemort answered by casting powerful wards to prevent anyone who's not keyed into the wards, so far Voldemort, Fenrir and Lucius, from apparating to the apartment, to deter anyone who's loyal to Dumbledore and to alert them should anyone try to harm the young woman inside. He then turned back to his two companions and smirked.

"Yes," He said, calmly reaching the railing of the balcony. "We will be paying another visit. Maybe take her to Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley." With that, the three wizards disapparated from the area, with nothing but a small pop-like sound to even show they were there.

Yay, done. Thank you for all those who alerted and favourited and reviewed. Please review and tell me what you think of it. Outstanding? Average? Troll? Please let me know, I want to know your opinion.

* * *

Now, I need your help. I only have one confirmed pairing in the future of this story and it is a minor pairing. I will warn you. It is slash. That is BoyxBoy. Like I said, it is minor and not for many chapters, but that is the only pairing I have for this story. This is where you come in. **You need to tell me what pairings you want to see in this story**. Do you want Voldemort and Esmerelda to get together, be like father and daughter, or just be friends? Should any others characters make an appearance and who should end up with who? I leave this in your hands. The most popular pairings and suggestions for relationships will be chosen and incorporated, but it is up to you. Please review and tell me your preferences.

NightWhisper


	3. Field Trip

The Slytherin Shadow Girl

Summary: Esmerelda found out Dumbledore was using her a few weeks after arriving at Hogwarts for her first year, and ran away. She's now seventeen and living a nice life away from magic, but a surprise visit from Voldemort forces her to question whether she is truly happy.

Hey, what a great response. Thanks for your votes and here are the current scores-

Voldemort and Esmerelda in a father-daughter relationship: 4

Voldemort and Esmerelda in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship: 8

Esmerelda and Lucius: 1

Please review and give your votes. The most popular will happen and the cut-off is chapter 5. Also, what other characters do you want to get together? Or do you want someone different to get together with Esmerelda? Please let me know. Your opinion counts.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Fanfiction.

* * *

"Well, that was interesting."

The three had long since gone back to the Death Eaters lair, and now were standing around, more or less looking lost. All three had been less alert than they should have been during the end-of-raid meeting, catching the eyes and more than a few curious/confused looks. All the others had long since gone, leaving the three on their own in Voldemort's throne room. Voldemort himself was seated in his throne and Fenrir and Lucius were standing around. The only other creature in the room was Nagini, who had draped herself in front of the fire. Voldemort turned his head to watch the debate between the aristocrat and the werewolf with mild interest, gaining an amused smirk when Fenrir levelled Lucius with a glare.

"Interesting only puts it mildly." He growled out. "We found the girl-who-lived's supposed 'secret hide-away'. Interesting is all you can say?" The aristocrat chose not to answer and, instead, turned to his lord.

"Are we going to expose Dumbledore's lie? He could be sent to Azkaban for the neglect of a minor." Voldemort turned to stare at the flickering flames as he considered his answer.

"No." He looked away from the fire and turned back to his two Death Eaters. "We'd have to expose her hiding place to get the proof of Dumbledore's atrocities. If he isn't sent to Azkaban in the trial, he'd go and attack her." He shook his head, staring straight into Lucius' eyes. "It's too risky." He turned back to the fire. "We will destroy Dumbledore, but not now."

Silence reined the room, before Lucius jolted up slightly before nudging a dozing Fenrir awake. "Greyback," The werewolf nodded, but didn't open his eyes from his place leaning against the wall. "What was with the fight between you and that she-wolf?" With that, he did open his eyes, before pushing himself up and off the wall before making his way over next to throne.

"If you put two Alphas together, they are going to fight." Lucius also wandered over, shaking her head, more or less fondly.

"That might be your problem with her, but I don't think that's her problem with you." Voldemort remarked quietly. The silence returning once more as Fenrir tried to silently urge his lord to continue, but Voldemort was promptly ignoring him. Eventually, he gave up and returned to the wall. "It was, however, strange that she took us to her residence, only to dismiss us."

"Personally, I think someone has very bad people skills." Fenrir answered from his place up the back, before the silence started once more.

"So," Lucius started awkwardly, "Are we going to see her again? Maybe take her to Diagon Alley?" Fenrir smirked, but chose not to say anything, whilst Voldemort answered.

"Yes," The pale man smirked at nothing, staring into the distance as the fire light up his pale face and red eyes. "As well as a few other places." With that, Lucius summoned a house elf for refreshments whilst the three made their plans for their next visit to the girl, unaware that a pair of curious eyes were watching them and wondering what they were doing.

* * *

The sun had barely begun to rise when the three returned to the small apartment. The wards didn't even twitch as the three linked into them apparated to her front door. With a sense of grace and dignity, Lucius knocked on the door before politely waiting. But, to their surprise, the black-haired girl that answered the door had bright yellow eyes and seemed a couple years younger, definitely not Esmerelda.

"Oh, hi!" She said, a bright grin on her face, showing off bright white teeth. "Come on in." With that, she moved out of the doorway and into the lounge room, leaving the three wizards to follow her shortly afterwards, once they had recovered from their shock.

"Excuse me," Lucius stopped the girl with a hand on her shoulder. "Just who are you?"

"Oh, right," She turned back to them, her smile still wild. "You don't know, I'm the black dog from last night, Dakria." The reactions were mixed and rather funny. All their eyes widened and Lucius' jaw dropped, Voldemort's eyebrow raised comically and Fenrir had a finger pointed at her, waving it in a small circle, seemingly unable to find the words he was looking for. Her grin obtained an almost smug look to it. "It's part of Emma's beast-speaker powers." With that, she walked all the way to the living room, leaving three stunned and slightly awed wizards behind her. They finally caught up with her as she was sitting on the main couch in the living room. She didn't bother talking to them again and they hung around awkwardly, not sure of what to do.

"Oh, you're back." Fenrir whipped his head with a snarl at the disinterested, and slightly annoyed, speaker. A quick once-over revealed a woman in her early twenties with amber eyes and silver-blue hair. She raised an eyebrow at their appearance and wandered over to the couch and sat down before opening a book that had no visible title. A quick nod from Fenrir confirmed it. Zelkra. Voldemort shook his head, denying Fenrir the chance to avenge his pride, before Lucius cleared his throat to catch the attention of the two ladies.

"May we, by chance, find out where Esmerelda is currently?" He asked quietly. The girls traded glances before Dakria answered.

"In her room. She doesn't get up before midday when she's been working night shifts."

"I'll get her up if you want." Zelkra stood up as she spoke, already heading down the hallway by the time she had finished. Dakria gestured for them to sit, seemingly finding something very amusing. A few seconds of watching her muffle her giggles and Voldemort was ready to ask her what was so funny, but when he opened his mouth she put a finger to her mouth, signally him to be quiet. All was quiet for a few seconds before a loud shout of "WAKE UP!" and thump broke the silence, causing all of the wizards to jump and Dakria to finally start laughing, followed by an angry string of curses. Dakria's laughter soon faded, as if this was common and not as great as it must have been the first time, but the curses continued, but much more muffled and were now mumbled rather than shouted. By that point, Voldemort decided that he didn't want to wait around to see what was happening and, instead, got up from his seat and went down the hallway before reaching a slightly open door. Pushing it open further, he was greeted with the sight of Zelkra glaring down at an empty and un-made bed, harsh sunlight streaming through a medium sized window, and angry muttering that sounded suspiciously like cursing coming from somewhere between him and her.

"Come on, get up!" With that, Zelkra tossed the black and silver comforter back onto the bed, allowing him a glimpse of a dark blue before it disappears again, and reached down the pull said dark blue thing out from under the bed, giving him a view of a cranky Esmerelda, before she fought back and swatted Zelkra a few times in the face, causing the she-wolf to drop her in surprise, before disappearing back under the bed, grabbing the comforter in one hand and pulling it down after her, blocking the light from entering her hiding hole.

"...Little brat..." He heard the she-wolf whisper whilst she rubbed her jaw, but she didn't seem too upset by it. "Come on, get up. Voldie and his minions are here."

"What, really?" With that, a dark head of hair poked out from its hiding place, before its eyes caught side of him and the cheeks turned pink, and the head tried to hide again. "Oh, god. Get out, the both of you! I'll be out in a few minutes!" The elder girl gave a good-natured eye-roll before walking past him and out of the room, and giving him a jolt of surprise by grabbing a shoulder of his robes and pulling him out. No sooner had the door closed, than he heard the sounds of something scrambling across the floor.

"Why did you pull me out?" He turned to the wolf-turned human as they went down the hallway.

"She would've never come out whilst we were in there. The goal was to get her up and, now she's up, we just have to wait." She replied as they reached the living room, the last three of their strange group just lounging around. "You have to know how to handle her." With that, the women went over to her fellow canine and sat down.

"What'd you want her for?" The black dog-turned-girl's head was cocked in interest.

"We plan on taking her to Diagon alley, amongst other places." Lucius answered, staring out the window, as if he was looking for something.

"Oh, field trip!" All heads snapped to the hallway, where a dressed and lot happier Esmerelda was standing. The girl stared back at them for a few moments before heading over to the kitchen and grabbing some bread, before putting it in something that looked like a metal box with a lever.

"What is that?" Lucius was watching the thing with caution, like he expected it to explode suddenly. Truthfully, Voldemort couldn't help but feel the same way and he could see Fenrir glaring at the object.

"It's a toaster!" The three wizards stared at the dog-girl in confusion, before she sighed. "Never mind." Fenrir growled warningly at the condescending tone of her voice, before whipping his head around to look at Voldemort.

"There not coming." Voldemort would have rebuked him for the demand if Zelkra hadn't spoken up before him.

"Like we want to!" With that, she grabbed Dakria's wrist and dragged the poor girl out of the apartment. "Come on, Dakria! Let's leave them to their wand-waving!" The door slammed shut behind them and the girls disappeared down the joint balcony.

"Gee, thanks!" They turned their gazes from the door to see Esmerelda looking at them with an annoyed expression. "Now I lost my companions!" She finished off the toast in her hand before re-addressing them. "How are we even getting there?"

"By floo." Lucius did a double-take at her confused expression. "You don't know what floo is?" She shook her head and Lucius rubbed his temples. Voldemort could understand his impatience; this was getting to be a stressful morning. "Floo-ing is travel by fireplace, if the fireplace is connected to the floo network. You throw some floo powder into the fire, call out the name of where you want to go, and you are taken there." The look on Esmerelda's face clearly stated that she hadn't understood a word. "We're going to use your fireplace to get to The Leaky Cauldron and get to Diagon Alley through there."

"Oh," She looked like she understood it, for about two seconds. Then she looked confused again. "But my fireplace is connected to the 'floo network'. How is that going to work?"

"I pulled some strings and got it connected for a while." Lucius tossed the gray-green soot that was floo powder into the quickly-built fire, turning it a violent green colour. "Go on, go through." She stepped towards, but stopped and turned back around to them.

"What about you? When are you coming through? Why aren't you going first?" Voldemort smirked, she was suspicious. He felt oddly proud of that fact.

"I'm coming through after you. Thinking of something," Voldemort whipped out his wand and, a quick spell cast, and the famous lightning bolt scar disappeared of her forehead. "That's better." He commented as he pocketed his wand, whilst the girl turned around to stare at the place her scar was before in the window.

"And we're catching up later." Lucius finished, gesturing to himself and Fenrir. Esmerelda nodded and shot them a look, a look that promised pain should something go wrong, and stepped into the fire. He watched as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before clearly saying, "The Leaky Cauldron." And vanishing in a blast of green fire. Voldemort smirked before nodding to his two Death Eaters, who took the signal to disapparate, and cast a few touch-up spells on himself, before following suit.

* * *

The transportation method tossed Esmerelda around like a rag-doll. She kept her eyes shut as the constant spinning made her nauseous and she could feel her elbows banging on hard things, things she wasn't certain what they were. Finally the wild-ride seemed to end as it spat her out onto, what seemed to be, a hard stone floor, slamming her nose onto the ground. She gave a sneeze before opening her eyes. The Leaky Cauldron was just like she remembered, warm, old-fashioned and loud. No one seemed to notice her less-than-graceful exiting of the fireplace, and she stood up and dusted herself of soot. She then moved away from the fireplace and waited. She could feel her nose twitching and gave another sneeze. It took another few seconds after she opened her eyes to realise that some of the people were now staring at her. She could feel cold sweat gathering at the back of her neck, did they recognise who she was? Her forehead was shown, so they could see no scar on her head. She found herself wishing that Voldemort would hurry up as one of the young men came up to her.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing here all alone?" He tried to put an arm around her shoulders, but she quickly flinched away, she didn't like people going behind her. He tried once more, but she gently slapped the hand away.

"Now, now. She's with me." Esmerelda felt like singing praises to Voldemort at that point as he stepped out of the floo, she also felt like slapping him and shouting at him why he couldn't have gotten there sooner. Oh, it was him, but it didn't look like him. He looked younger (about 23), no more scales, he actually had a nose!, He had hair (that was a jet-black) and his eyes had changed from a blood red to a deep violet. In short, he had changed from a nightmare-inducing dark lord, to a drool-worthy heartthrob. He gave her a heart-warming smile before stepping in-between her and the other man.

"I believe the young lady" Oh, how her cheeks reddened when he said that, "Doesn't want you around." He put his own around her shoulders and steered her towards the entrance to Diagon Alley. "So I'd leave her, and I, alone." He punctuated the last word by closing the door to the pub. Esmerelda could only watch him as he whipped out his wand, tapped on the bricks with it, and steered her into the crowed shopping district.

"So," He began, looking down her with a smug expression. "How'd I do?" Esmerelda was only able to stare at him, dumbfounded, before she finally found the words she was looking for.

"I don't know whether to kiss you, or slap you." He chuckled as they walked down the middle of the street.

"I'd prefer the kiss." With that, he steered her into Gringotts, the smug smirk still on his face.

* * *

So, Sorry! Sorry that I forgot about this chapter for a while! I hope it's okay. It was going to be longer, but I thought it was enough and that it had been so long since my last update, that I thought I'd cut it off here. So, Outstanding? Troll? Average? What's your rating, and don't forget to vote on your pairings.

Nightwhisper.


	4. Field Trip continued and Someone New

The Slytherin Shadow Girl

Summary: Esmerelda found out Dumbledore was using her a few weeks after arriving at Hogwarts for her first year, and ran away. She's now seventeen and living a nice life away from magic, but a surprise visit from Voldemort forces her to question whether she is truly happy.

Thank you to everyone who voted, faved, reviewed and alerted. What a great confidence boost. Here are the current scores:

Voldemort and Esmerelda in a father-daughter relationship: 5

Voldemort and Esmerelda in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship: 11

Esmerelda and Lucius: 1

Esmerelda and Fenrir: 1

Remember, this chapter is the last chapter you can review and leave you vote, so please do so. Also, poll on my profile which effects how often I update, please vote there too.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. There would be some major changes if I did. The first is Harry would be female, permanently. I do, however, own Blackthorn Alley and all the shops in it.

* * *

"I've decided. I'm going to slap him."

Esmerelda was rather pissed off. The visit to Diagon Alley had gone rather well. It started with a trip to Gringotts, the highlights of which were Tom (They'd decided to call him by his true name, which led to a discussion about Tom's origins, which led to Esmerelda teasing him) claiming she was a 'speed-junkie' on the Gringotts carts at her wide and insane grin at the speed. She always did love fast things. In a car, she'd roll down the window and stick her head out like a dog, and flying on a broom was a rare treat for her. The wind flying past her face, it gave her a thrill just thinking about it. Whilst at Gringotts, they'd gotten Griphook (who'd gotten a rather large surprise when Esmerelda had remembered his name) to read the Potter will and Esmerelda had promptly fainted when told how much she was worth. When she woke up, the first thing to come out of her mouth was a string of swear words intertwined with "Oh God, I'm bloody rich"s. Also revealed had been the fact that Dumbledore had tried to gain access to her vaults, but it seems that her parents were well prepared should something like that happen. They'd set up the best protections they could, which included the fact she would only be able to go into the main vaults at seventeen, and even then, only by her herself, no one could go in her stead. The same went for her trust vault; the only difference was she was able to access it whenever she wanted once she turned eleven. Not that Dumbledore hadn't tried.

Tom had quickly pulled her away from the bank before she could start cursing again, but not before he'd made sure she'd gotten a new Gringotts card that voided her old key, and dragged her into Diagon Alley. Esmerelda felt the same rush of excitement and childish wonder that she had on her first and only other trip there. The same joy and glee at seeing the main street filled with shoppers and the amazement at the products being sold in the shops that lined the sides. Tom had dragged her to Flourish and Blotts and piled her with books ranging from explanation books about the wizarding world for muggleborns to ones about animagi training, and everything else in-between, which included several books about magical blocks after she had inquired to Tom about them. It had been worth seeing his face turn a brilliant shade of red and hearing the mumbled curses aimed at Dumbledore at the knowledge of the blocks he placed on her. He then dragged her to Obscurus Books, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, Scribbulus Writing Instruments and Slug and Jiggers Apothecary on the argument that she needed supplies because he was going to teach her what she should have been taught. Esmerelda decided it would be better to just go along with it.

Then she took control, dragging him to Magical Menagerie, Broomstix and Sugarplum's Sweet Shop, just because she wanted to look (And maybe get some chocolate). By the time they'd gone back to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch, they'd both been piled with packages, which Tom had quickly decided to shrink down and gave her them to place in her pocket. After a quick lunch, Tom had let her go to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Esmerelda now realised that she should have been more suspicious of the fact he hadn't gone in with her, as when she came out, she realised he'd up and disappeared. And that was why she was now pacing up and down the main street of Diagon Alley in a foul mood.

She'd just passed a small, almost unnoticeable, dark doorway when she felt something tug harshly at her sleeve and drag her into it, a hand covering her mouth. It was only after she'd kneed her attacker in the groin did her eyes adjust to the gloom enough to make out a familiar head of blonde hair.

"Oops." She mumbled as she reached down to try and pull Lucius to his feet. The blonde struggled considerably to get to his feet, rather humiliating for someone so proud. "What are you doing here?"

"We said we'd catch up later." Lucius wheezed out as he tried to stand, stumbling slightly as he tried to regain his footing, and his dignity. "The plan was that I'd show you Knockturne Alley after Tom was finished with Diagon."

"So that's why he buggered off?" She received a nod in response. She sighed. "All right then. Lead the way." He handed her a black cloak with a hood, similar to the one he was wearing, and gestured for her to put it on. She did so and pulled up the hood when Lucius pulled up his. It blacked out almost all of his face, completely hiding his identity. With that, he walked further down the entrance they were in, leaving the light behind, and entering a similar main street, but with cloaked and shady figures, with a small sign nearby. Knockturne Alley.

* * *

Esmerelda was alone again, pacing up and down Diagon Alley, but in a much better mood this time.

Lucius' trip through Knockturne Alley had taken a lot less time then Tom's trip through Diagon, but that was mainly because the trip to Knockturne was to show her all the different kinds of people in the wizarding world. He showed her Cobb and Webb's, a place to purchase items related to the dark arts, The Betting shop, which did as its name suggests, Borgin and Burke's, another dealing shop, and Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, which also sold dark artefacts. He had, however, quickly hurried her past The Coffin House, Moribund's and The Spiny Serpent. He hadn't stated why, but Esmerelda had the feeling she wouldn't have wanted to go in there anyways. They hadn't brought anything, Lucius had just showed her, told her what one could do with it, and warned her not to touch. Not that she'd want to with some anyways, she thought, the hand of glory still fresh in her mind.

Esmerelda breathed in the fresh air, she hadn't been allowed to take off her hood whilst in Knockturne and was reviling in the feeling of the wind in her hair once more. She had understood why, but that didn't mean she'd have to like it. Now ready for it, the body that belonged to the swift hand that pulled her into another stair entrance was left undamaged and Esmerelda found herself face-to-face with Fenrir. From the guarded look he sported, Lucius had told him what had happened. She decided to play the ignorant, innocent girl and just gave him a smile. When he realised she wasn't going to attack him, he led her down further into the new alley. The sign hanging above them read Blackthorn Alley. The people that filled this alley all looked different in some way. Some had pale skin, others had unruly hair, one even had what looked like animal ears hidden in their hair. Esmerelda felt she knew it in her gut, just an instinctual feeling niggling at the back of her mind. Fenrir seemed to know what she was thinking and nodded in confirmation. This alley was designed just for magical creatures.

He led her along the main street, whispering to her the different shops and buildings as they walked, never speaking too loudly unless they catch unwanted attention. There was the Red Robin Library, a place which allowed creatures to both borrow books and learn how to read and write. Next was The A Positive Bank, which gave vampires a weekly allowance of blood to live off of. New and Old Threads was a clothing store, it seemed that the little that was sold in Blackthorn Alley was sold rather cheap. Tiny Paws was a creature day-care for parents who had to work long hours, and The Briar Gardens were a rather nice, public gardens at the back of the alley, which opened up to forest. The Evergreen Bookstore was for those who had the luxury and money to get second-hand books and The A and E shop sold anything and everything, hence its name, even illegal wands. The Loch Ness Pub seemed to be a favourite meeting place between creatures as well as a cafe and the New Time Apartments, which had apartments designed for all creatures, took up most of the Alley space. The only other shop was tucked away in a small back-alley and had a foreboding aura around it.

"That's The Aura." Fenrir said from where he stood by her. "It holds all the objects us creatures have created and obtained over time. The humans don't think that anything in it is worth anything. Rather stupid of them." He finished with a nasty grin. The Alley square was alive with what was called The Fur and Claws Market, creature vendors selling their wares to whomever they could. The last item of the Alley was The Notice Board. It was updated every day on job offers, deals, announcements and any new restrictions and laws for magical creatures. Esmerelda found it rather interesting and spent a fair amount of time reading the postings on it until it got to the point that Fenrir dragged her away from it and into The Loch Ness Pub. Dragging her over to the fireplaces, he pulled a small bag of floo powder out and chucked a bit into the first fire they came across. Once it was a bright green, he, without warning, shoved her through, stating clearly, but quietly, "Canine's Den, Emerald". The last thought Esmerelda had before they turned to mush with the dizzying spin was cursing all three of the wizards that came into her life for making it complicated.

* * *

Her mood wasn't any better when she arrived back at her apartment, landing on her nose once more before letting out a flurry of sneezes. Looking around, she noticed that her canine friends were back, but Lucius and Tom weren't. Picking herself up and dusting the soot off her, she made her way over to the couches where Zelkra was reading and Dakria seemed bored.

"Emma!" Dakria jumped to attention and bowled Esmerelda over. Esmerelda found herself meeting the floor once more as a happy, black dog now sat on her chest. Esmerelda soon pushed the Belgium shepherd off her as, though she didn't mind an enthusiastic greeting, she drew the line at face-licking. Zelkra, on the other hand, stayed in her human form and only gave a nod in greeting. Esmerelda just shrugged, that was how Zelkra was. She went down the corridor, with the intention of changing out of her soot-covered clothes, and wondering faintly where the three wizards had gotten to. She opened her bedroom door, her movements clumsy from tiredness, and snapped wide-awake when she found Tom on her bed, looking though something she couldn't quite made out. Faster than either of them could blink, she had forcefully thrown Tom out of her room and slammed the door behind him, locking it just to be safe.

She listened at the door, but all she heard was him moving away and going back down the hallway, mumbling about crazy women. Sighing in relief, she changed out of her dust and soot covered clothes, tossing them in the washing basket in her en suite, and replaced them with track pants and a plain shirt. Leaving her room again, she went back to the living room to find that a soot-covered Fenrir, a recovered Lucius and a disgruntled Tom standing around like loose ends. Rolling her eyes, she snatched the book Tom had been looking through earlier out of his hands and turned to the cover. It read 'Placing and Removing Magical Blocks'. Staring first at the book, then at Tom, she tried to convey the 'WTF?' feeling she had at that moment. It seemed to reach as Tom began to speak.

"We're going to remove the block in the next few days, maybe even tomorrow. We just need precautions." At Esmerelda's confused look, he elaborated. "You have had a significant amount of you magic blocked for a long time, a sudden release could level the surrounding area. We need wards to contain it, hide your magical signature and other preparations to make sure all here are alright afterwards."

Esmerelda nodded, understanding, but got a jolt though her heart when a knock sounded at the door. Confused, she had very few visitors and the only ones she knew were currently in her living room, she made her way to the door, Lucius, Fenrir and Tom not far behind her. Hands closing over the doorknob, and feeling rather foolish for fearing the opening of her front door, she twisted it and opened the wooden entrance.

* * *

He had watched from the distance for a while now.

His attention had first been caught when he noticed that his lord, his lord's right-hand man, and the leader of the werewolves were acting strangely. They'd spent far more time around each other than normal, actually being polite and almost friendly to one another rather than just tolerating each other. It had happened when they'd been trapped together by the aurors on the last raid, he was sure of it. He just wasn't able to figure out what had happened. It had puzzled him, and he did not enjoy being in the dark. So he had followed them. But it had led to a dead-end very quickly. But then Lucius and his lord had turned up again. And, this time, they led him straight to the unknown destination. And had he gotten the shock of his life.

He certainly didn't expect to see them being friendly to Potter. Nor did he expect the girl to be living in such a muggle place. The last he had heard, like the rest of the world, she'd been sent to a secure location for training. Surprise after surprise came that afternoon, from a girl turning into a dog and back, to Greyback using magical means, to his disguised lord being thrown out of a room and onto his backside. He hadn't known what to make of it. And so he decided to confront them.

He hadn't quite known what had caused him to make his way up to the apartment door and knock on it, but it had been rather worth to see the Potter girl's face turn to shock as she recognised him and to see the three mysterious men looking at him with wariness, as if they were afraid for the girl's safety. Deciding that it would be in his interest not to talk to the girl or pull out his wand, as he didn't feel like being attacked by three panicking men, he looked over her head to address his lord.

"So, when was it going to be told that the Potter girl had been found?"

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Oh, god. On and on and on, this one went. But, it's finally finished. Virtual cookies if you can guess who the new-comer is. Please review and vote on both the relationship poll and my profile poll,

NightWhisper.


	5. Shall We Try?

The Slytherin Shadow Girl

Summary: Esmerelda found out Dumbledore was using her a few weeks after arriving at Hogwarts for her first year, and ran away. She's now seventeen and living a nice life away from magic, but a surprise visit from Voldemort forces her to question whether she is truly happy.

Hey, back, hoping to get these up on my birthday and this should be on there. Hope to enjoy. Also, the votes have been counted and this story is now officially going to have Esmerelda-Voldemort pairing. Final Scores:

Esmerelda-Voldemort, romantic relationship: 17

Esmerelda-Voldemort, father-daughter relationship: 5

Esmerelda- Fenrir: 2

Esmerelda- Lucius: 1

So, you can see, the majority of you want this pairing. And that's how it shall be. Sorry if you don't like that but that's the majority.

BTW, cookies go to notsofrilly, angelxofxmine, Armacryss and a guest reviewer for guessing correctly on who our mystery guest is.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

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Esmerelda was frozen, she couldn't breathe. It had been many years since she'd seen him but there was no mistaking the hook nose, greasy hair and black bat-like robes. He even still had the same sneer that she remembered. She didn't even remember where she was until she felt Tom grab her arm and pull her back through the doorway. Dakria and Zelkra stood on either side of her, baring their teeth at the stranger. Esmerelda could feel the iron-tight grip Tom had on her; she could feel his hear speeding up through his hand. She was frightened too, Snape worked for Dumbledore. Moreover, he hated her. What was stopping him from going straight to Dumbledore and telling him where she was? She wouldn't put it past him to go straight to the one she hated most. Possibly the only thing keeping him from going straight to the headmaster was the fact that Tom and the others would be able to catch him before he got very far. But that bought up another question; since when was he on speaking terms with Tom? Why did he ask when he was going to be alerted? Unsure of what was happening, she stood to the back, letting Tom lead, with Lucius and Fenrir escorting, the potions master to her sitting room, her canine friends guarding and leading her there as well. She watched carefully as the black-clad man was seated and as Tom sat down nearby to start the conversation.

"How did you find this place?" Tom finally said, after a long staring match with Snape. Lucius and Fenrir took that moment to step away from the fourth man, Lucius coming to stand by her as she stepped forward a bit and Fenrir to finally shake off the soot that clung to him.

"You arrived back at the base distracted. I followed you when you returned back not too long ago." It caused Tom and Lucius to look like they were cursing themselves as Esmerelda stared over at Lucius in surprise.

"He works for Tom?" She whispered to him urgently as the male paseltongue continued to curse himself, this time out-loud and in the language of snakes. The hissing brought back memories of when she discovered that she herself could speak that language separate from her Beast Magic. Learning that you had that ability from your pool of magic and actually using it to speak with those in the reptile house during your first time there were two very different experiences.

"Yes. He joined not long after finishing Hogwarts. Dumbledore believes he is a spy for him, but Severus is truly loyal to The Dark Lord." She nodded, understanding and realising that Lucius had used Snape's first name, before heading over to stand near the two wizards. Snape's eyes latched onto her as she approached and she started to feel nervous under his gaze.

"Are you going to tell anyone I'm here?" She asked, finally drawing the courage to speak whilst he was watching her, but some fear slipped into her eyes. She saw his eyes widen slightly, causing her to change her face to confused, and it disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. Slowly, finally, he shook his head.

"No. I won't." She let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding and sat down, her legs going weak. Her two friends turned back into canines and ran over to her, letting her ran her hands over their ears and through their fur. She was faintly aware of Tom gaining what he called an unbreakable vow to not reveal her location and re-strengthening the wards around her home, there were wards? She thought, to protect her from anyone who was loyal to Dumbledore and expanding their range so no one who fell under that category could come onto the block. She was faintly aware of Lucius and Fenrir joining her on the couch, for relaxation or for her comfort she wasn't sure, and Tom dragging Snape towards the back rooms. She finally snapped out of her daze as she heard violent cursing from the hallway as a furious Snape stormed back into the room, carrying an armload of books on wards and magical bindings and dropping them onto the coffee table, spreading them out in some sort of system as he searched through them. Tom returned soon, complete with his own books, and joined Snape in his search. Esmerelda watched them work for a bit before she dared to interrupt.

"How can I help?" The two black-haired men looked up at her and she turned slightly pink under their gazes. "I'm the one he put these bindings on. I may not understand what the books say, but if you tell me key words to search for, I can do that and narrow down your search to the key pages rather than you searching each word on each page in each book."

"I'll help too." Zelkra returned to human shape, giving her back hands and opposable thumbs as she spoke up. Dakria did the same soon after, giving a big grin and agreeing with the wolf.

"Us as well." The two men left leant over as Lucius spoke, Fenrir commenting as well. "The more eyes searching, the quicker you find your prey." He said with a wolfish grin. Zelkra nodded in agreement, shocking everyone but herself, Tom and Snape. Tom looked at all of them, his eyes gazing over each face, before nodding. Tom grabbed a pen and paper and scribbled a quick list of keywords, which he handed over to Lucius, Fenrir, Dakria and Zelkra looking over his shoulders to read it themselves. Esmerelda was about to join them, but a tapping on her shoulder drew her back. Tom, having gotten her attention, led her over to a more secluded corner of the room where Snape was waiting for them. Whilst the others started on the search, Tom sat her down in front of Snape and sat down behind her.

"We wish to see get a view of what we're trying to break." He spoke, having settled himself into a comfortable position. She turned slightly to look over her shoulder with a confused expression.

"If you're willing," Snape poke that time. "We wish to enter your mind-field and get an idea of the bindings the old coot put on you." She nodded, understanding, before turning around once more to look at Tom again.

"How do we get you into my mind and to my magic-pool?" She asked. She felt Tom turn her to the front again and lift her hands so that her fingertips were touching Snape's. Once they were settled like that, he rested his fingertips on her temples.

"Just relax. Like you did when you first went in by yourself. Breathe in, and out. Relax your shoulders, think of nothing in particular, good girl, I'll do the hard work. Close your eyes," She did as he said. "Now open your mind." And there before her, where black had once been, stood her field of magic, a vast pool of copper. She felt a presence, turning behind her, she saw two figures, one wrapped in a purple-red magic and the other in a silver-gray. She didn't even need her magic to identify them, the silver having the slender shape that she knew belonged to Snape and the purple's fire matching the eyes colour of Tom. She looked down at her hands, curious as to what her colour was, and saw I outlined in the same copper colour that filled the pool. And there, was the white shield, blocking off her magic from her. Looking more closely now that she wasn't on a time restraint, she could see flickers of a sickly-yellow colour in them, and indication of who cast them if she went by the faces of Snape and Tom when they also saw it. She wandered over to the pool, kneeling down at the edge and running her fingers through her magic, creating pleasant jolts through them as she did, whilst the two men took turns to prod and poke the shield. She barely noticed them, too entranced by the feel of her own magic, and didn't notice them finishing up and coming up behind her until one, Snape she realised as she noticed the whispery silver stands, put their hand on her shoulder and startled her out of her daze.

"Now, we can go back." She nodded standing up, only to be pushed back down into the sitting position they were in before. Snape sat in front of her and she could feel Tom's fingertips on her temples once more. Almost instinctively, she closed her eyes and fell into meditation once more. She only opened her eyes again when she could hear the sounds of the last four again. As she did, she pulled away, following the two men who had already departed for the others. When she reached them, they had all gathered around in a circle, devious grins were on the faces of the four searchers and each book had been marked with yellow sticky pages. Snape and Tom each grabbed a book, going through the marked pages with hurry, she could see the small signs of excitement in their eyes as they read more and more, knowing that they had found what they were looking for.

"So," Zelkra started, looking between everyone who made up this strange group. "When will this thing to remove these blocks be done?" The two men, twin heads of black looking up from the books, shared a glance before turning back to the group, where Tom said one word.

"Tomorrow."

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All done. Here's a new chapter. Sorry it took a while, but this will be the new update. My birthday today! So please review?

NightWhisper


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